Imagine this scenario: You’ve just returned to the City of Homes after a two-week vacation – only to find your house ransacked and your jewelry gone, including a gold and diamond bracelet once owned by your grandmother.

The police arrive, take the report and start an investigation that often begins at the local pawn shop. If the burglary happened on the first day you were away, recovering the stolen items is unlikely under current regulations that only require pawn shop and junk dealers to hold the goods for 10 days.

Springfield Police wisely want to change that. To aid their investigations, police are asking the City Council to vote on a proposal that would re-establish a 30-day hold on used jewelry and gold.

The change sounds more than reasonable to us. There have been 1,530 burglaries and break-ins in Springfield as of Sept. 30 this year, according to police records. We think police would appreciate more time to track down that heirloom bracelet.

The Police Department is also asking for pawn shops and junk dealers to keep a bound book describing each second-hand item along with a photograph and an electronic record of each transaction. With such a system in place, police have a much better chance of recovering your heirloom.

The council has had weeks to study the proposal, yet it has failed to act.

City Councilor Thomas M. Ashe, a voice for reason on the matter, is losing his patience. Last week, Ashe said he’d fight to have the council take a stand on the police department’s proposal. “It is beyond comprehension we are still at this point,” he said. “This is clearly an attempt to avoid a position on this prior to the (Nov. 5) election.”

Council President James J. Ferrera III, who asked for the matter to stay in committee, said the delay has nothing to do with the election – or contributions received by councilors from George Sarkis Sr., a co-owner of the Springfield Jewelry & Diamond Exchange, who has been highly critical of the measure.

But we don’t blame Springfield residents for thinking that, by dragging their feet, some councilors are giving the appearance that they’re just a bunch of pawns.